A Year of Orenda – The Last Stage by Louise Voss

Today I pass the blog back to Mandie who has her review of The Last Stage by Louise Voss as part of our Year of Orenda. A tense psychological thriller, full of secrets and misdirection, I reviewed this book a while back as part of the blog tour. If you’d like to read my thoughts, you can find that review here. Read on to find out a little bit more of what the book is about.

About the Book

A reclusive musician’s hiding place is discovered, forcing her to confront her traumatic past … and someone seeking vengeance. A dark and riveting psychological thriller from number-one bestselling author Louise Voss

At the peak of her career as lead singer of a legendary 1980s indie band, Meredith Vincent was driven off the international stage by a horrific incident. Now living a quiet existence in a cottage on the grounds of an old stately home, she has put her past behind her and come to terms with her new life.

When a body is found in the manicured gardens of her home, and a series of inexplicable and unsettling events begins to occur, it becomes clear that someone is watching, someone who knows who she is … Someone who wants vengeance.

And this is only the beginning…

A dark, riveting and chilling psychological thriller, The Last Stage is also a study of secrets and obsessions, where innocent acts can have the most terrifying consequences.

Mandie’s Thoughts

Meredith Vincent was leading a nice quiet life managing a gift shop on a large estate when her world is once again turned upside down. Initially contacted by someone from her past that she hoped to never hear from again things suddenly start happening that drags up her past and a life she thought she had left behind.

The timeline of the book takes us through everything that is happening in the present along with events in Meredith’s past and you can really see that there is a dramatic change in her way of life between then and now. I really like the way that you get drip fed the events of the past as it helps to show the stark difference to the present. What you don’t know for the majority of the book is the reason why then and now that Meredith is being stalked. You know that something traumatic happened to make her turn away from a music career at the height of fame but what exactly happened is not revealed for quite some time and it is this determination to find out that information that will keep you hooked.

This is by no means a fast paced book but the slow build up really adds to the tension as Meredith try’s to keep her nerve when it is clear that someone is out to get her by targeting those close to her. That’s not to say that Meredith is innocent in all of this and even some of her actions in her current life have consequences that have nothing to do with what is happening to her. She may have turned her life around, but young Meredith was not someone you could really like and I did at times find the closeness of the relationship with her brother a little bit cloying but at the same time understandable as he was the only person in her life that she felt she could truly trust.

The final reveal of who was behind it all and their reasons was not what I was expecting at all. This is the first book that I have read by Louise Voss but if this is the standard that I can expect in her other books then I am really looking forward to reading them.

About the Author

Over her eighteen-year writing career, Louise Voss has had eleven novels published – five solo and six co-written with Mark Edwards: a combination of psychological thrillers, police procedurals and contemporary fiction – and sold over 350,000 books. Her most recent book, The Old You, was a number one bestseller in eBook. Louise has an MA (Dist) in Creative Writing and also works as a literary consultant and mentor for writers at http://www.thewritingcoach.co.uk. She lives in South-West London and is a proud member of two female crime- writing collectives, The Slice Girls and Killer Women.

Author Links: Twitter | Facebook

Books by Louise Voss